A 17-year-old man is facing aggravated robbery and attempted rape charges after Metro police said he assaulted a woman at her South Nashville apartment.

The department's sex crimes detectives arrested the teen Thursday night in connection to the attack on a 24-year-old woman at her Walden Village Lane apartment building.

The Tennessean does not name all juveniles suspected of a crime.

According to police, the assault took place in the elevator breezeway of her apartment building just after midnight Wednesday.

East Precinct officers took the teen into custody at James Cayce public housing complex Thursday in connection to a stolen delivery van that was recovered on South Fifth Street. According to police the teen had already been identified as a suspect in the aggravated robbery and attempted rape case as well as in other crimes.

Police said that on Wednesday morning the teen pulled a knife on the woman when she arrived home at her apartment complex. She told officers the teen threatened to kill her if she did not surrender her purse and phone and that he removed part of her clothing during the encounter, but stopped before actually sexually assaulting her.

After the incident, police said the teen fled the area in a Chevrolet Impala that was stolen Dec. 2 from a downtown hotel.

When officers arrested the teen on Thursday, they said he was carrying property of the apartment complex victim as well as a knife fitting the description that the woman gave.

As of Friday, police said, the teen was being held at juvenile detention.

Additional charges against him are pending, police said.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.